Ed's Daily Fun 2SS

[Eddymel1998]

Thanks, threaded rod was last minute idea, one of few times that living a spitting distance from an Amazon warehouse came in handy since local shops are scarce on metric parts. I also have been thinking about the rear diffuser, noticed the one from link below for the z28 but none of the other diffuser patterns.
https://zl1addons.com/products/camaro-z-28-diffuser

[Eddymel1998]

These came in, was going to mess around with fitting them this weekend but package was delayed so will mess around next one, have some ideas on how to replace the ci numbers so that I'm not accidentally lying about what's under the covers.

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Originally Posted by Eddymel1998

These came in, was going to mess around with fitting them this weekend but package was delayed so will mess around next one, have some ideas on how to replace the ci numbers so that I'm not accidentally lying about what's under the covers.

What are you gonna do with the 427 badging?

[Eddymel1998]

In short term stick some painters tape over it and scribble 376 in sharpie, but over long term I think I will 3D print and paint a little plate in same style then glue it on top or secure it in some other way that is least intrusive. I did consider sanding it down and stenciling in the new numbers or leave it blank but it feels a little too excessive and matching the texture of plastic might not be the easiest.

[Eddymel1998]

Been a busy weekend but got an hour or two today to try and fit the fuel rail covers, my biggest concern was the engine oil cap but looks like the oil dipstick is causing the most issues.



Otherwise only one of the mounting studs is actually on the valve covers instead of 4, so will have to get some more of those, few of the lines don't line up, most notably the hard fuel line that crosses over the plenum





Then a few of the hard lines (vacuum or oil return?) make mounting it with strut bar a pain since the little legs get caught on them.





Next steps now are to look for a shorter dipstick and tube, see if there are any alternatives for those hard heatformed tubes (I'm guessing they're for vacuum), then revisiting this with a Dremel and fixing some of the clearances for the lines.

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

For the dipstick, I would look into maybe a Lokar dipstick. I used one on my Trans am LS swap and they are very well built, and can be mounted a little more "freely" You just gotta make sure you get the correct length so that you are properly checking your oil. As far as the hard hose lines, I have seen people run those with heater hose. Not sure how they attached them to the fittings though.

Those covers look huge on the little LS motor.

[Eddymel1998]

Thanks for the suggestion, I was just looking at the dip sticks this morning, I was finding a lot of lower quality stuff but when looking at Lokar the suggestions seem a lot more reasonable.


The covers do look a little goofy but they hide the rats nest of wires and hoses GM left behind pretty well, plus I like the idea of coil pack covers but most of the ones available make it look like the engine has overhead cam valve covers.

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Originally Posted by Eddymel1998

Thanks for the suggestion, I was just looking at the dip sticks this morning, I was finding a lot of lower quality stuff but when looking at Lokar the suggestions seem a lot more reasonable.


The covers do look a little goofy but they hide the rats nest of wires and hoses GM left behind pretty well, plus I like the idea of coil pack covers but most of the ones available make it look like the engine has overhead cam valve covers.

The Lokar dipsticks use a billet handle, and braided steel cable for the actual distick so they are quite flexible. When I bought one for my LS swap it was roughly $70 though. So they are pricey, but they are nice pieces.

I went with Holley valve covers with the coil packs bolted on directly. Looks alot better then the factory stuff and with a little work they can look really good if you re-loom the wires. I was going to install the SLP covers, but they require a little more work then I was willing to do.

[Eddymel1998]

Holley does make some nice valve covers, I spent about a week or two browsing photos on here, LS1tech forums, few Corvette ones, as well as going over the pinned engine bay cleanup thread, there are a lot of ways to make the engine look good, from simple painting to these fancy full engine covers, I ended up really liking the Corvette style fuel rail covers, so when I found that z28 basically had that but with "camaro" written on it I knew that was the one. As a plus you don't see too many people repurposing engine covers from other LS family engines so I think the product should look interesting.

[Eddymel1998]

New steering wheel just came in, was curious if it would be real wood inserts or wood grain wrap, seems it's the latter but pretty good quality, can't tell from a distance, stitching doesn't look great but that's just nitpicking on a $200ish steering wheel. Will have to install over weekend so I can send the core back.

All thas started because of the image below, I saw it in a Camaro book, it's a 1st gen interior and kind of stuck with me.

[Bee]

Nice work on your build...looking forward to seeing what else you have in store!

If you are able to find the heater hoses for a 2012 Camaro (I believe its ACDelco Part# 22962570), it will allow you to get them off the top of the motor. Here's an old thread that walks through the entire process:

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=183191

Although, just a warning...once you do that it will probably lead you down the path of cleaning out the rest of the clutter under there.

[Eddymel1998]

Thanks, I looked into it after someone mentioned it in different thread, I would like to do it in future but I completely flushed the coolant less then a year ago so I'm using it as an excuse, for time being those ls7 covers cover the hose perfectly so it's less tempting, I might just order the part though since I feel like to will only get harder to find.

[Eddymel1998]

I bought these 3rd gen badges some time ago and yesterday had a bit of time so finally got around to installing them.

Ended up dremmeling off the little tabs on the back (not really happy about destroying a functioning part but looking at alternatives it was the best option unfortunately) and put some double sided tape on the back.


Found a spot on the dash at passenger side and one at base of the shifter (not sure if I'll keep that one there, might move if I find a better spot) overall they bland in well enough.



The sun was coming in from back do the car so photos didn't come out as great, also the tape was on the thicker side so it peeks out from under the black one, might also be something to fix in the future.

[Eddymel1998]

Just finished installing new wheel, ended up being a bit of an ordeal, I think the guys who custom made this are just not as experienced in making these for Camaros. Anyways I started by getting the two out and transferring stuff over.

Transfer was easy but when I went to mount the trim with buttons on it I noticed they wrapped the leather too far, and the trim bits did not want to slot in. Below is image when is tarted with my first cut and then the final stage after everything was cut, thankfully I'm no stranger to the exacto knife at this point.


The worst but is that there is a small hole that a little tab slots into and on the left side the stitching was over the hole, so I cut best I could without cutting into the stitch.

In the end it was a bit of a fight but I got it all together

I then took out the SS emblem from my old steering wheel, sanded down the backs and glued it on new steering wheel, if I had to do it again I would cut the hole in the leather so that emblem first on more flush.


After I put it all together I found 2 screws I forgot but thankfully they got through the back so I got them in, then I added some plastic protectant on plastic bits and leather conditioner on the leather, looks pretty good imo